Extesian

I like the overall idea and connections you've made! I don't agree only with the theory that they were previously transformed into trees etc (of that's indeed what you're implying), i think it's metaphorical for them being actually hunted by humans. But that doesn't diminish the story and the theory that Cultivation provided them with a boon for proving themselves at, well, cultivation

The one we have confirmed is the one Hoid was talking to at the end of WoR: The other one that comes to mind is the cremling in Kaladin's cell when he's thrown into prison. Edit: apologies, you mentioned the one in prison! The WoB for those who like references is from the December 6 2016 signing.

damnation right. If you want to become the Zucchini Beyond, at least do it with casual, blasé style.

Khriss appears at the party Wax goes to by name. Nazh is the haunted man from the Allomancer Jak broadsheet. And they are referenced together by initials in a broadsheet advertisement looking for people who hear their weapons talking to them

I think it is just that, as a Returned is a Cognitive Shadow attached to a body which requires a divine breath to attach it and a normal breath each week to sustain it, Vasher can use Stormlight in place of a breath. I imagine he only needs any kind of investiture for that purpose, not breath specifically. I'm sure he can't convert it, I think there's a WoB that says he can use Stormlight in place of the breath a week needed to keep him alive, but that he can't use it to awaken for example, As for how much, I suspect it's a 'lot' but look what Szeth can do sucking in one gem worth. All Vasher needs is enough gems and I suspect one of the most Cosmere-aware people has the means to afford them.

Good point. You would have to bring your own source of combustion, like oil, then it would burn very well.

While I'm not at all convinced it was fire, Roshar has a high-oxygen environment so it would be a lot easier to burn an entire island than it is on Earth.

It would explain why Hoid seems far more interested in gaining connection to every Shard rather than just beckoning super-invested. The number of connections he has is probably more what makes him almost unkillable than his inate investiture and the powers he can use. (And quite right, I was thinking very Scadrial/Roshar-centric).

Yeah my understanding is something like this - investiture = matter = energy, a level of connection is required to tap into a specific Shard's power, once you have that connection through genetics/bonding (and the gap in your spirit Web to allow it) you can access the Shard's power. That gives you a certain level of innate investiture, more than the average jane doe. But what really affects sticking around after body-death is how much you channel. Each time you use the Shard's investiture it is channeled through the gap in your spirit Web, and each time you do that the gap widens and further cements the connection you have to that Shard. It's circular. Well, more like an upwards spiral. It is then that connection, cemented by the repeated channeling of a specific Shard's investiture, that anchors your spirit Web to that Shard and allows you to stick around longer. Hope that makes sense. Royal Rumble drinking game hangover has damaged my spirit web somewhat.

http://brandonsanderson.com/books/warbreaker/warbreaker/warbreaker-rights-and-downloads/ Sweet sweet shoplifting.

THE WORDS

Warbreaker! Short, sweet and free

I feel like I've been drafting black luxin

Particles that have no mass move at the speed of light. Not faster than it but you're still certainly right about it being a headstart. I believe there's a WoB saying you can't store all your weight but I can't find it. I don't believe you can simply because the physics would get so funky (weightless particles not only move at the speed of light, but they have no relative time ie a photon traveling for a billion years over a billion light years has actually had zero time passed from its perspective). It's probably a Higgs field interaction that governs this stuff but I don't think Brandon will mess with it to the point of having weightless, timeless, speed-of-lighty heroes But will weight manipulation be used to make extremely fast travel easier? damnation right it will!

But maybe an alloy requires much less lerasium than the other metal so you could make many times the number of alloys? So he takes an alloy when he needs to add a power but keeps the rest for making other alloys for others to use. Lerasium won't exist again so he may be hoarding it for when more Mistings are needed? Unless that WoB is saying you can only have more than one if you take them at the same time - is there a WoB saying taking one subsequently will just rewrite the first one leaving you with one power?

Lerasium alloys turn you into a Misting of that alloy so maybe he only has used it for certain metals. He could be an allomancer but not a Mistborn.

I like this. I had only thought of Autonomy add being an intent for others but I like it as an intent for the Shardholder. And your idea of Bavadin promoting varying religions as a way to almost learn more about the Cosmere and it's people gave me an idea that perhaps Ym's religion, that originally there was only One and One divide itself into many people to live different lives and feed back individual experiences into One's experience, could be a religion of Bavadin. It's my favorite religion in the Cosmere so far so I'd love for that to be one of Bavadin's!

Quasmere!

Correct, WoB confirmed this (or close enough).

From memory we don't know how long ago Wyndle bonded Lift. Sul and Pattern had their memories advance with time, and rapidly add the Oaths were spoken. As Lift has gotten so far with the Oaths perhaps that's the reason Wyndle seems that way to us. Though I guess we've seen him prior to the second and third Oath and he seemed pretty got throughout those sequences.

It is interesting that Szeth doesn't seem to feel nauseous or overcome by Nightblood, indicates he's not an evil person even though he's unquestionably done terrible things.

Its some nice thinking but indeed the WoB from last month is here. As for location of using magic, most Shards have their power anchored in the Spiritual Realm which is location-independent, you only see location being a serious issue with magic like the Sel-based ones, where it is anchored in the Cognitive Realm.

Mistborn is the usual recommendation, it's brilliant and it's the only full Cosmere series he's completed. If you want something short and sweet, I adore Warbreaker and it's free! Emperor's Soul is a short story but just beautiful, as is Sixth of the Dusk.

At least as of before Arcanum Unbounded, Szeth could not draw Stormlight so that probably means he does not have a Nahel bond. Could have changed as of AU but no indication of that. WoB

I particularly like this WoB from almost a year ago, indicating both that the Nightwatcher can be stumped, and that maybe Lift's abilities are more about the rules of the Old Magic and Lift's actual request. I suspect that the more your request is selfish, the more the Nightwatcher twists it, and that Lift's request was both unselfish and completely baffling - hence she was given a Boon that was so uniquely Awesome it led to her being chosen for bonding.